Netflix's Wet Hot American Summer Isn't the Movie, but It's a Must-Watch for Fans

Netflix has had a pretty inconsistent run so far with original programming, especially reboots. So if you're a Wet Hot American Summer fan, there's been a lot of excitement and simultaneously a lot of finger-crossing since the prequel project was announced. But don't worry, after devouring the entire thing, I can say Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp gets it right—mostly.

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Let's get this out of the way: An eight-episode arc on a streaming service is not a movie. If you want the movie, re-watch the movie. If you want more of the movie, I don't know, watch the special features or something. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is four hours long, and WHAS is one and a half. They both cover about a day's worth of plot, so the pacing is slower in the series. The movie was manic, trying to cover a lot of ground while not worrying about expectations because it was too busy subverting cliches. The show has fans to consider, and it has to add characters while still re-estabilishing old ones. It's generating new material while referencing 15-year-old material. And it's broken neatly into half-hour episodes. No one expects the Rolling Stones to be as energetic onstage as they were 30 years ago, but we're grateful for what we get. FDOC is a lot like that.

FDOC dispenses with the obvious in short order. The opening is a re-shoot of the fireside of the film. "Yes," the creators are saying, "we're all older and this is a prequel." But they do a good job of letting you forget ever so briefly that everyone is 40 playing 16, only to drop the fact back in your lap artfully for a laugh, as when when Amy Poehler tells John Slattery that their relationship is wrong given that she hasn't hit age of consent.

If you haven't seen the movie or haven't seen it recently, you'll have fun with the clever summer-camp-movie parody. But if you're a super-fan, what you appreciate most about WHAS are the subtle sight and sound gags that took multiple viewings to notice. They're here, too, though in a self-aware way. The goofy, re-used bottle-break noise from the film comes back a few times in the show, usually edited in over a metal can being thrown. Artie's voice is dubbed in again, most likely by Samm Levine (uncredited yet again). The little ticks and mannerisms, the wordplay meant to jab at the formulaic nature of teen romantic comedies from the '80s... it's all there. But there's a sense that we're waiting for it to get going, which is the show's biggest drawback. That's a problem with reboots and sequels in general, but you expect FDOC to be so much more defiant to our expectations.

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Which isn't to say the show doesn't nail some details. Marisa Ryan's Abby Bernstein return/reveal is so magically unexpected, so perfectly choreographed, that you never see it coming. And Elizabeth Banks, whose WHAS character was a burger-flavored bimbo wanderingthrough the supporting cast, is suddenly in the spotlight when her backstory is revealed. As a 24-year-old reporter for a thinly veiled Rolling Stone knock-off, she heads to Camp Firewood to write her biggest story ever... about a summer camp. This storyline sets up one of the brilliant cameos: Chris Pine's arrival as the hermit/former rockstar Eric, whom she helps to rediscover himself, sort of. He's later killed—or is he?

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As with the movie, it doesn'tactually matter what happens in FDOC. Jon Hamm's cameo, not unlike his work on Parks and Recreation and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, is a walk-on role as a one-dimensional character for quick sight-gag laughs. He plays a government sleeper cell, activated to assassinate camp staff after Janeane Garofalo uncovers a plot to dump toxic waste on the campgrounds. It's a ludicrous storyline, and in one of the most hilariously awkward exchanges, Hamm tells Garofalo, "There are a lot of parts of this that do not make sense."

At times, however, things do make sense, a little too much. Some of the jokes are actually emotionally genuine, though they may be ridiculously framed. Maybe that's the movie working againstthe show, because we expect the second part to be more ridiculous than the first. Maybe it's hard for the writers to do awful things with characters we all have nostalgia for.

John Slattery gets a part not entirely distant from his Mad Men character, as a womanizing diva of a Broadway extra (which for the camp's theater program equates to royalty). His scenes are too few as a full-of-himself C-list actor not-so-casually courting an allegedly 16-year-old Poehler. It's a missed opportunity never making him cross paths with Hamm, especially when the show isn't built on realism.

Other new stars get big roles. Michael Cera has an entire plot to himself before being unceremoniously assassinated by Hamm. Jason Schwartzman is a fairly personality-void head counselor, and we all know he has to die or leave before the end of the series, but his exit still brings some big laughs.

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But the big danger of prequels and sequels is that they can change characters for the worse (looking at you, Star Wars), and this is where Michael Showalter and David Wain are truly masters. Paul Rudd's Andy is ever-immature, but having to beg his way into Katie's heart (and pants) makes him a little more charming by the end.

And then there's Gene, ChristopherMeloni's masterpiece. I was skeptical in the first few episodes, as the show appeared to be setting up an arduous transformation for Gene from preppy vanilla empty suit to oddball psycho. When the series starts, he's a quaffed peacock engaged to marry Molly Shannon's Gail (we get to meet three of her fiancés of by the end of the series). But the episodes accomplish Gene's transformation with all flourish and none of the exhausting development you'd dread: One minute he's not Gene, the next minute there he is.

A lot of FDOC is waiting for those "There they are!" moments, those easter eggs. The movie was made entirely of easter eggs, and the more you love them, the more things you're waiting on. It can be frustrating at times, having to deal with feelings and plot before you get to the talking vegetable soup can. But that's not what this was about. You're not here for a big victory lap of content. Wain and Showalter might know you want that, but that's not what made the movie so great. Most of what made it great was only found on the third or fourth viewing. WHAS wasn't an overnight success for the same reasons the show is getting mixed reviews the day it premieres. We all haven't watched it enough. The good news is that, 15 years from now when the next piece of the puzzle arrives, you'll have four extra hours of references to appreciate.

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